After being installed as John Terry âs replacement in February, Ferdinand will eventually pull the armband on for tonightâs friendly against Mexico at Wembley.

It is the start of a journey he hopes will end on July 11 at Soccer City when England could be bidding to be on top of the world for the first time since 1966.

Yet Ferdinand dare not think about it, or the iconic status that would come his way should he lead England to glory. âAs a kid I allowed myself to daydream and then we wouldnât get to the final,â recalled the 31-year-old.

âSince then I have always said I wouldnât let myself get too Â­emotionally involved with various scenarios for fear it might not happen or I might not achieve the goals I set out to. People ask me about being captain or lifting the trophy but I Â­cannot let myself go past that stage.

âMaybe it is just superstition but I donât want to do that anymore.â

The philosophy fits in perfectly with boss Fabio Capelloâs no-nonsense Â­approach. âThe manager told the lads I was the new captain, which was nice, but there was no song and dance,â said Ferdinand.

âIt was done and then we moved on. There is no time for small talk. It is about business and doing the work Â­required if we are going to be Â­successful.

âBeing captain is a fantastic honour and a responsibility that I warm to,â he added. âBut it is not something that is going to change me. I will conduct myself in exactly the same way. Even before I was made captain, the younger players knew I was an easy-going guy who they can approach which, in a way, is more important than being captain.

âWhen you have been to tournaments, you are more capable of being the kind of person that a younger player might need to speak to.â

Ferdinand insists there was never any doubt in his mind he would reach this stage, even when the back injury that plagued him for almost two years showed no signs of going away. In the end, a series of injections sorted the matter out.

The defender said: âThere was no stability in my spine so I had a series of injections in the Â­ligaments of my spine to stiffen them up. I felt a relief almost immediately.â